Importance of phonics

The advantage of phonics over simply teaching the alphabet is that once they have mastered the main sounds, they can then read many English words! It is a method of reading instruction that breaks language down into its simplest components.

Children learn the sounds of individual letters first, then the sounds of letters in combination and in simple words. Simple reading exercises with a controlled vocabulary reinforce the process.

A well-designed phonics program also teaches the most common spelling, pronunciation, and syllable division rules needed to figure out which sound to use when. It can also improve your spelling, even if you manage to read very well.

Phonics helps to develop a good solid sight vocabulary so that they do not need to sound out every single word they come across in their reading.
Signs that you may need phonics:
- Very slow reading

- Dislike of reading
- Poor spelling
- Difficulty reading technical material
- Difficulty reading the following words: Cardiomyopathy, Bibliography, etc

Necessary points to learn phonics

Knowledge of phonics and how it should be applied to sounding out unknown words is an essential skill that all readers must develop in order to learn to read with ease and understanding. If phonics is taught in a step by step fashion with much of the time spent on giving the student practice in applying the skill, tremendous results occurs.

The secret lies in teaching one skill at a time and then giving the student plenty of practice is using the skill. In this way the student internalizes the phonetic sound and can apply it to improve his reading skills.

One should first test this phonemic awareness in students, and then follow with instruction in letter/sound relationships, each letter/sound at a time. The next steps would be to teach blending sounds, and building words.

Start with one syllable words, then gradually increase this to two syllables, three syllable and then finally four and five syllable words. Teach them the vowels a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y. Explain to them about the short sounds (eg; i in pitch, a in bat, etc) and long sounds (eg; a in lake, o in cone, e in seat, etc). Make them learn prefixes, suffixes and their usage.

Teachers need to show students that even tiny sounds, that are not always consciously discernable to the ear, are there, and that they are represented by letters. In addition to teachers, parental involvement by way of encouraging them to worksheets, online reading program like ClickNRead and software is an added assistance to children.

Whole language v/s Phonics

There is an educational and political battle going on between proponents of a phonics emphasis in reading and a whole language emphasis.

Phonics is considered a "bottom up" approach where students "decode" the meaning of a text. The advantage of phonics, especially for students who come to schools with large vocabularies, is that once students get the basics down, they can go to the library and read a wide variety of children's literature.

Whole language is considered a "top down" approach where the reader constructs a personal meaning for a text based on using their prior knowledge to interpret the meaning of what they are reading.

With whole language, teachers are expected to provide a literacy rich environment for their students and to combine speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Whole language teachers emphasize the meaning of texts over the sounds of letters, and phonics instruction becomes just one component of the whole language classroom.

So who wins the debate then? Phonics or Whole language? What does succeed then, many experts say, is a carefully designed reading program that employs part whole language approach and part phonics, and takes into account each student's learning style and demonstrated strengths and weaknesses. Parental involvement is vital to reading success no matter which approaches are used, reading experts assert.

Glossary

1. Alphabetic Principle--The sound symbol relationship found in alphabetic languages such as English.
2. Balanced Reading Instruction--Combines aspects of the phonics and whole language approaches to teaching reading.
3. Basal Reading Series--Also known just as basals, basal reading series are graded series of textbooks used to teach reading in elementary schools.
4. Phonics--The sound/symbol relationship between the spelling of words and the way they are spoken.
5. Phonics Emphasis--The approach to teaching reading that emphasizes the sound symbol relationship in alphabetic writing systems such as English.
6. Phonemic Awareness--Knowing that spoken words are made up of sequences of individual sounds and the ability to manipulate those sounds.
7. Reading Wars--The dispute over the best way to teach reading that is being carried out by advocates of the phonics and whole language approaches to teaching reading.
8. Whole Language--The approach to teaching reading that focuses on getting meaning through text and teaching reading, writing, and other subjects together.

Checklist for parents to know

1. Read regularly with your child, atleast 4-5 days a week.
2. Let your child browse through the book before attempting to read.
3. Have confidence in your child’s abilities and show them.
4. Gift them books on topics that interest them like boys enjoy knowing more about cars, bikes while girls may prefer more on dolls, etc.
5. Give them an opportunity to read in front of friendly people like Grandma, neighbour, uncle, aunt, etc. It will boost their confidence.
6. Don’t rush with them. Give them enough time to read or write.
7. Give your child opportunities to read and write. Such as letting your child write his/her name at the bottom of a letter or a card, shopping lists, etc.
8. Start with easy books to encourage your child and then move on to the tougher ones.
9. Don’t compare your child’s progress with other children too often. It might create inferiority complex and they may lose the interest in reading completely.

Introduction to phonics

Phonics basically refers to the connections between letter patterns and the sounds they represent (e.g., sound /s/ can be represented by s, es, ese). It defines the set of relationships between written letters and the spoken sounds that those letters represent.

Phonics is a widely used method of teaching children to read usually at the age of 5 or 6. Phonics teaches the 71 basic letters and letter combinations (phonograms) needed to pronounce the 44 sounds of the English language.

The singular or group of letters used to represent these sounds, are called graphemes. A phonogram is a letter-sound combination that includes more than one grapheme or phoneme.

Phonics is a tool for decoding words; it is not a reading program. Knowledge of phonics does not ensure that one will comprehend printed texts because reading is a far more complex process than simply sounding out words.

Closely related to phonics is "phonemic awareness", an understanding of the idea that spoken words can be broken down into constituent sounds. It is an oral skill and not a reading skill as in phonics.

Phonics was taught successfully by mostly young teachers in the days of one-room schoolhouses. Phonics has fallen in favor in the last 50 years, but is beginning to make a comeback.